The operator of one of Liverpool's most famous visitor attractions has said the city faces a "critical tourism gap" as restrictions on international travel continue.
Heritage Great Britain runs the RLB360 attraction at Royal Liver Building, said the North West city has struggled throughout the pandemic with the lack of international visitors - but that there has also been a hit to the number of UK-based visitors.
Operations manager Chris Devaney put that down to holiday-goers flocking to coastal towns and the countryside overtaking trips to big cities like Liverpool.
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But he said he is hopeful that now restrictions on travel from the USA and European Union have been eased, the city could start to see some bounce back for businesses to thrive once again.
Mr Devaney said with a Liverpool's "deep-rooted never-say-die attitude", his firm and others are working hard to show people "the place to be this summer is right here" - with various special offers available for visitors.
Mr Devaney said: “It has been amazing to reopen since restrictions have been lifted and welcome visitors back but it has been a slower burn for cities to start returning to normal in regards to tourism and visitor numbers.
“It is because there is a critical tourism gap coming into the city this year with the lack of cruise ships, international tourists visiting and domestic trips being taken to the countryside and beaches."
He added: “Our hope in tempting people to visit the attraction is that they will stay and continue to explore the city, supporting every business here that’s bouncing back after Covid-19.”
Mr Devaney's comments come on the day widespread changes were made to the Government's traffic light system for travel.
Under the new rules, France is being moved from 'amber-plus' to 'amber', meaning fully vaccinated passengers returning to England, Scotland and Northern Ireland will no longer need to quarantine.
Among the other changes, Germany, Austria and Norway are among seven nations being added to the green list.
